


three

by Darkwhitepebble



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - How to Train Your Dragon Fusion, BAMF Midoriya Izuku, But no, Dabi is Not Todoroki Touya, Dabi is Not a Todoroki (My Hero Academia), Dabi is a dragon, Dead Midoriya Inko, Dragon Dabi (My Hero Academia), Dragon Midoriya Izuku, Dragon Shigaraki, Dragons, Good Parent Midoriya Hisashi, Good Parent Midoriya Inko, Good Parent Todoroki Rei, How to Train Your Dragon References, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Izuku Midoriya is a dragon, Kinda, M/M, Older Sibling Dabi, Older Sibling Shigaraki, Protective Dabi, Reincarnation, Shigaraki is a dragon, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, Time warp, Tododeku endgame, actually probably more than some, and dabihawks, and look like the night lights from httyd, but not like legit fusion, but yes, dabihawks - Freeform, god why are there so many tags, i'm so sorry why am i like this, intense httyd guys, just let me have this, like i add dragons, protective shigaraki, she ends up being like the hiccup's mom thing thing in this story, some dragons - Freeform, thats all i got for you guys, they're dragon triplets, well yes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:21:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27510697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkwhitepebble/pseuds/Darkwhitepebble
Summary: The Hidden World was destroyed by cruel humans a hundred years ago, at the start of the quirked era. The King and Queen of the Dragons, along with their dragonets, were killed defending the nest.Now, a hundred years later, they have been reborn and given a second chance. But the triplets have been scattered in different bodies, and have to find each other to reunite the dragons and disappear once more from the world.Izuku has been searching since the day he was born, with no luck. So he resolves to become a hero to gain fame, so he can have some hope of finding his siblings. He bides his time, facing all of the abuse for being quirkless and the endless bullying to make it into UA. Surely now he can find them.But they haven't been sitting around. His siblings are just out of his reach, under the control of the same man who destroyed their nest. If only Izuku could reach them.Maybe with the people around him, he can.
Relationships: Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic, Dabi/Takami Keigo | Hawks, Midoriya Hisashi & Midoriya Inko, Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto
Comments: 29
Kudos: 104





	1. prelude: how we've left

**Author's Note:**

> this makes like no sense but listen man i need something dragon related in my life

_Chaos._

* * *

" _You do fast purpose!"_

" _Slow slow, fast much!"_

_"Slow purpose, us fast more!"_

Pounce suddenly had to swerve to avoid smacking straight into one of the sea stacks, and he flailed his wings and paused in the air for a moment, regaining his balance. It was always a pain to fly with his siblings. 

Dart rumbled a laugh in front of him, having stopped to hover as Pounce tried not to fall out of the sky. There was water at the bottom, but the sea dragons that dwelled were never happy about dragons crashing into them from above. 

Pounce grumbled at Dart. He was struggling to keep up too. The only difference was that he avoided the sea stack without as much trouble. Pounce wasn't as agile as his siblings, nor as fast, but he had inherited the strategy and cunning. 

Dart reached out and playfully flicked Pounce's nose with his black and white-edged tail fin. Pounce snorted as it brushed him, then glared as Dart laughed again. His brother was annoying. 

Pounce looked around and stopped pouting for a moment. 

" _Where Ruffrunner?"_

Dart blinked, then swept his blue gaze around. Pounce was right: Ruffrunner wasn't in sight. The two of them sighed. Knowing Ruff, he had probably flown back to the nest already. 

" _Up, listen, wrong wrong"_ Came a sudden hiss.

Pounce and Dart looked up and saw their sibling perched on top of the sea stack that Pounce had almost hit. He was curled up in his crouch, tail wrapped around his front paws as his sharp claws gripped the edge of the stack. 

Pounce whined. " _Wrong? What wrong?"_

" _Up, up, quiet!"_ Ruffrunner growled the quiet at the end, conveying urgency. His black and white tail was swaying gently at his side. That was a telltale sign of his uncomfortableness. He had been doing that since they were dragonets. 

Dart and Pounce exchanged a green and blue glance, before flying up silently and setting down on the same sea stack on either side of Ruffrunner. They were almost too big to fit together, but for now, it was fine. 

The three of them looked out, and Pounce realized what was wrong. It was quiet in the nest.

It was _never_ quiet.

There was always _something_ making noise. It could be an egg hatching, or dragons play fighting or even the soft flaps of dragons flying overhead. But there was nothing. Not a dragon in sight. 

Ruffrunner suddenly snapped his tail back.

" _Return nest,"_ the other two were momentarily frozen. " _Now!"_ he snarled.

The trio leapt off the top of the sea stack, dropping down before spread out their wings and gliding through the maze of stacks. The water below them was eerily still. There were always waves lapping from the dragons moving around. Now, there was nothing. 

Ruffrunner was the faster and agile of the three, though he was weaker. Dart was the strongest in terms of brute strength, though he also possessed the most amount of random knowledge. It was anyone's guess as to if he knew something. 

Ruffrunner's black wings tucked into his sides as he dove down, spreading them out to turn mid-air in a fast spin. He dropped down on the first sight of land, and ran forward. Pounce and Dart landed beside him.

The three approached what was supposed to be Meatlug's nest. She had picked the spot herself and was always there. Even when she didn't have eggs to care for, she generally stayed here unless she was out hunting with the others at feeding time. The older female was an affectionate story teller, who loved to reminisce about her human, Fishlegs. 

That always confused Pounce, because fish didn't have legs. 

But she was gone. And when Dart reached out to feel the spot, there was no warmth. She laid on it so constantly, even after she returned from feeding time there was still lingering body heat. It was cold, now. 

Pounce crooned in fear, and the three took off again. They flew swift through the air, but made sure to stay in tight-knit group together. Even Ruffrunner, who normally always left them behind, stuck back.

Pounce appreciated the sentiment, especially because he could see Ruff was itching to take off at full-speed and reach their nest fast. Pounce brushed his wing against his tail fin and rumbled in comfort. 

After a minute of gliding, they finally reached the great cavern of the world. Above it, at the top of a cliff, was where their nest was. It overlooked the nest and provided a great view of the dragons, and was not hard to take off from. 

Ruffrunner swooped up, landing and rushing forward. 

" _Mama, papa!"_

There was no answer. Silence. 

Ruffrunner whirled around to face Dart, who was the best tracker among them.

" _Find!"_

Dart nodded, dropping his nose to the ground as he attempted to catch the scent. Something made him still, though. He could catch it, alright, but there was no trail leading away. They should be right here, in this exact spot.

Pounce cast his gaze around, searching for any signs of anything. 

Dart lifted his head, and then he caught it.

The scent of something truly _horrible._ Dart roared to get his sibling's attention, not bothering to wait as he ran forward. Ruffrunner and Pounce were right behind him, letting him lead the way. They tracked the scent down the cliff, having to take off to make it to where it was coming from. 

The scent was leading to above the world, into the air where they were only allowed out with their parents. The dragons were anxious, scared, worried. But at least they were doing this with each other. At least they weren't alone.

They flew up the cavern reaching to the outside, landing on the rock the lined the edges. 

The King and Queen of Dragons stood next to them, snarling with their pupils dilated. Many dragons lined the edges, waiting cautiously. Ruffrunner, Dart, and Pounce looked to where everyone was waiting. 

A man stood there.

Not a good man, like Toothless's Hiccup. 

He was tall, dressed in a suit, with a dark mop of hair on his head. His eyes were cruel, and a thin smile curved his lips. Many, many men were behind him. They weren't visible, but the scent carried over to the dragons. The humans had picked the wrong side of the wind to be on.

The man clapped his hands, before taking a step back. He was on the head of a giant ship. 

" _Kill them."_


	2. Chapter 2

Izuku Midoriya wasn't born in a hospital. He wasn't carried in a mother's stomach for nine months before coming into the world surrounded by two people that would love him, and many more that would care. 

He was found in the forest.

Inko and Hisashi Midoriya had been taking a picnic, about to discuss adopting a child together. They wanted a child but didn't want to have one of their own. They believed there were so many in the foster care system, it was unfair to produce another. 

So they grabbed a picnic basket and wandered into the forest by their forest, finding a pleasant clearing and setting out a blanket to sit on. They had been eating and talking together, about to approach the discussion when there was the sound of twigs snapping.

Inko and Hisashi looked over to find the source, and they saw something duck down behind a bush. 

"Hello?" Inko asked cautiously. 

There was silence. Inko stood, slowly walking over to where the noise came from. 

"Can you come out?" She called, keeping her voice soft and welcoming. Silence, and then rustling as the whatever-it-was started walking into view. Hisashi tensed, nervous about his wife being so close to it. 

But it was-

It was a _child?_

The child was small and looked to be about four. He had a green bush of hair, and the most vibrant green gaze Hisashi had ever seen before. The only thing was that his pupils were thin, much like a cat's. He was dressed in a ratty pair of shorts and a white t-shirt and tipped his head to the side as he regarded Inko.

"Hey, there." She greeted with a small smile. She was wonderful like that.

But the boy responded in a series of clicks and noises, and a humming one from deep within his throat. 

Hisashi blinked. He had absolutely no idea what that was or what that meant. He could tell Inko had no idea either, but she didn't let it deter her. She knelt down and offered out a hand to the strange boy. 

He blinked at her, then made a weird cooing noise. Inko nodded encouragingly.

He slowly took a step forward, hesitant to reach out his hand and place it on top of Inko's. Strangely enough, his nails were a glassy grey, and sharp at the ends. It was either part of a quirk or that fact he looks like he's been living in the forest.

"I'm Inko. What's your name?"

The boy made another series of weird clicking noises and a hum, with a long, drawn-out sound. " _R-(coo)-f-(click)-(trill)-ner!"_

Inko, who clearly had no idea what to make of that, simply nodded. It was endearing and made Hisashi's heart melt.

"Do you know where your parents are?" She asked.

The boy cooed, and his pupils widened. He looked more comfortable around her. 

Inko turned to Hisashi, gesturing for him to come over. Upon noticing him, the boy's pupils thinned and he let out a low rumble. It was... a growl? He bared his teeth, which, oddly enough, were sharp and pointed. 

"This is Hisashi," Inko said, holding her other hand for her husband.

The black-haired man was hesitant, but carefully walked over and took her hand. Inko had him crouch down as well, and offer his own palm out to the wild boy. The boy had stopped growling but still regarded him cautiously. 

"I'm Hisashi," Hisashi said lamely, trying to give him a tiny smile.

" _Heeeee-sa-(click)-(click)."_ The boy sounded out, face twisting into one of concentration.

Inko caught on immediately, grinning and nodding. "Yes! Hisashi!" 

" _Heee-sa-(click)-(click)-ee._ " He tried again.

Hisashi himself gave a giant, lopsided smile. 

"You're Izuku."

* * *

Dabi had been found in a similar way. 

Rei had been taking a walk in the forest to clear her head. There was another rustle of leaves, and she turned around in surprise. Was there an animal following her?

A tiny boy burst out suddenly, with stark white hair and a bright turquoise gaze, pupils slits. As he focused on her, they widened. He was only wearing ratty shorts and a t-shirt and started wailing.

" _P-eee-(click)-(coo)! R-(coo)-f-(click)-(trill)-ner!"_

Rei blinked in surprise. The tiny boy made the same noises, then ran up to her with tears in his eyes. He made the noises again, persistently. 

Rei crouched down in front of him, offering out her hand. "Hi. What is your name, little one?"

" _D-(trill)-(click)."_

Well, that meant nothing to her.

But she nodded anyway, not bothering to try and pronounce it at the moment. For now, she needed to find this boy's parents and get him back to where he belonged safely. She couldn't let him get hurt.

"Do you know where your parents are?" She asked.

He cooed at her, pupils widening even more and squeezing her hand. 

Rei still had no idea what that meant.

So she held out her arms with a small smile. "Let's get you somewhere safe, okay honey?"

The boy was intelligent: he jumped straight into her grasp and let her pick him up without any trouble. He seemed comfortable enough around her and wrapped his tiny arms around her neck for comfort.

Rei hummed a quiet tune as she headed for the police station.

* * *

Tenko Shimura had wandered from the forest to a house, where a woman had been lounging in the backyard.

She stood and blinked as she saw a tiny boy coming up to her. He had black hair and a pale green gaze, with pupils that would contract and widen as he walked up to her. He was hesitant, but Nana stooped down.

"Hi, there. What's your name?" she asked in a soft tone.

" _P-eee-(click)-(coo)."_

Well, she had no idea how to pronounce that. Oh well.

"Where are your parents, little one?" 

He made more cooing noises, and a click, but Nana had no idea how to decipher that, so she was essentially no help. 

She opened her arms and gathered him up, though he was hesitant and tense about being touched.

"Let's get you some help."


	3. act one: lost

Izuku opened the door to his room, leaving it ajar behind him.

His footsteps were silent on the floor, socked feet making noise as he walked across the hall and down to the other room. He was quiet, turning the doorknob in slow, deliberate motions. 

Unknown to him, his eyes had a greenish glow to them, and his pupils were huge. He was able to see in darkness as easily as he could daytime. His parents had chalked it up to his quirk. 

Opening the door just a smidge, Izuku peered inside. 

There was the sound of a soft snore, and the person in the bed had their eyes closed. Sleeping peacefully. And Izuku's father was a heavy sleeper, so he didn't need to worry very much. 

His mother couldn't be woken anymore, so that took another burden unwillingly off his back.

Closing the door softly, Izuku sighed without making any real noise and turned to head back to his room. Slipping back inside and closing his door, he crept to his bed and stuffed a pillow and blanket under it. Thank god he normally slept with the blanket above his head, so it wouldn't appear anything was amiss.

After stepping back and scrutinizing his work for a minute, Izuku called it good enough.

He pulled on his heavy black boots, slipping on a hoodie and doing the belt around his jeans. After a glance-over, he was satisfied. Izuku walked over to his window and carefully pried it open, moving the screen door up. 

He was careful as he lifted a leg through, then his head. There was a six-story drop below him, after all. He balanced on the edge of the window sill precariously, surely about to fall at any moment now.

It was too bad he couldn't particularly bring himself to care. 

Izuku had no fear of his heights. Not even when he was a little baby. 

Though that was one of the perks of being a dragon. Heights simply didn't have an effect. Falling was part of flying, and flying was a core fundamental of being a dragon. Being _free,_ really. 

After he shut the screen door, Izuku raised his hands to grab hold of the ledge above and scrabbling up. Thank gods they lived on the top floor, so he only needed to pull himself up onto the roof, which wasn't much trouble.

After balancing his feet on top of the window with climbing, and reached up to grab the edge of the roof of the building. He prepared to pull himself up, but just as he put his weight on it, the ledge shifted and crumbled under his touch.

Izuku lost his balance, but his fingernails shot out, glassy grey claws lengthening. Despite their thinner appearance, they were stronger than they looked. And sharper. Izuku dug them into the back on one side and clawed a grip onto the roof's ledge.

After taking a second to steady, he moved his wall grip to the roof as well. He placed one foot against the brick wall, using his claws to climb up. He sank them into the concrete roof, finishing his climb up onto it in seconds. 

He grimaced the sight of deep claw marks and gashes on the wall, as well as the new set of holes in the concrete. Oh well. It wasn't like anyone was going around doing roof inspections. 

Shaking himself out, Izuku was almost vibrating in excitement. He retracted his claws and ran a hand through his hair. His dad had just cut it for him, so it was at the nape of his neck instead of falling to his elbows. It had been a while since his last cut, he supposed.

Izuku glanced up at the sky, staring at the stars and the wispy clouds. The moon shone brightly down on him, caressing him in its light gently. Izuku loved the moon. It reminded him of his mother, Luna.

Well, dragon mother. Mother Mother. Not human mother. 

Izuku grinned to himself, as he released the string that had been holding him in place.

A small blast of emerald fire rushed over his body before a large dragon stood in his place. Izuku shook himself out, tail swaying behind him, as he readjusted his wings. He looked up at the moon again, flaring his ear flaps to listen for any immediate noises.

None.

Izuku sighed, sitting back and resting his tail on his paws. The moon never failed to remind him of his family. It had been fifteen years now that he had been missing them. He wished for his father, who was playful and strong, and his mother, who was smart and watchful. 

He longed for his siblings, though. Pounce's games of hide-and-seek, which he somehow always managed to convince the others to play, even though he _always_ won. There wasn't a time where he didn't, even as a hatchling. Dart loved to play fight and wrestle on the ground, using his strength to overpower his siblings.

Izuku was the fast one. He always flew ahead of his siblings, always did loops around them, and played the contortion game with them. They would always have a contest with a random dragon as a judge to see who could bend themselves into the craziest positions. Or who could fly the best.

The dragon missed that so much.

When he found his two siblings, he was never going to let them out of his sight again. Never ever. 

Izuku stood, shaking himself out and pawing at his back snout. Only the front half of his legs were black, the bottom and back being white like his mother's. They also had small fins on them, like on their mother's back. The scales running along his back were stark white, unlike his siblings, and his black tail fins had white sides. His underbelly was white, and so were the ends of the two small flaps between his ears. 

The dragon shook itself out again, before spreading its wings and running forward, leaping into the air and taking off with a single, powerful flap. 

Izuku knew it was technically illegal to do this, so every night his first mission was to fly straight up until he breached the clouds. It was a good warm-up, to just fly straight up without caring very much. 

The wind whizzed past his face, parting as he passed through. He flapped his wings again, relishing in the feel of gaining altitude. It was something he could get drunk off of if he tried. 

After a minute, he passed through something wet and cold. 

Opening his vibrant green gaze, Izuku glanced down at the whispy cloud he had just passed through. He was at a good height, then. The whispy clouds were the highest ones in the sky.

Izuku tucked his wings into his sides and turned, letting himself fall back to the Earth. He only fell for a minute, before snapping out his wings with a small _whoosh_ and gliding forward quickly. He sliced through the air, turning his head down as to gaze below him. 

He flew every night to search for his siblings in the air, hoping he could catch a glimpse of a tail fin. So far, he hadn't accomplished anything by it. But that didn't mean he wouldn't ever. And it was nice to fly at night. 

Izuku tucked his wings into his sides and turned, letting the wind carry him back and turn. Spreading his wings again, he glided over the city of Musutafu, high above even the tallest building. Because he had such altitude, anyone who saw him would simply assume it was a freak bird.

The wind nipped at his wings, but Izuku didn't mind. This feeling of freedom he gained from it never ceased to be worth it, so he would face every gust of wing that came for him if it meant such a thing.

Izuku closed his eyes, letting out a pleased rumble as he let the air carry him wherever it pleased.

"Yo."

Izuku's eyes snapped open and he halted mid-air, flapping his wings to stay afloat as he searched for the source of the sound. Turning around, he narrowed his eyes as he scanned the sky.

There!

It was... a man with fire-engine red wings? 

Oh.

_Oh._

Hawks.

He had just been caught doing illegal quirk usage by a top-ten pro hero.

Well, he was screwed. Basically. He could at least claim this was the first time it had happened. 

Hawks waved to him, then pointed at a nearby building roof. "Let's land there and chat for a minute."

Izuku briefly thought of running. He could probably do it. The pro wouldn't be able to keep up with him, especially if he dove into the city. And it had the same effect as going down would have.

Why not go out with a bang?

So Izuku nodded and tucked his wings into his sides, diving down straight for the roof of the building. But he angled his course, not that Hawks would be able to tell from their height. The pro dove next to him, and he happened to be lower, so he reached it first. 

Izuku gave a dragon smirk as he missed the building, heading straight to splat on the concrete.

At the very last second possible, he opened his wings and veered off, swooping down an alleyway and springing back up into the air. If he made it to the forest, he would be able to lose the tail.

Izuku flapped his wings, putting on a sharp burst of speed. He dove again, gaining even more as he shot through the air. It wasn't fast enough to make the telltale whistling noise, but he also wasn't charging up a blast. 

The dragon flew forward for a minute, then turned on his side and changed courses abruptly. He saw Hawks behind him and knew the flight was his. The pro wasn't built for long sustained flights at high speeds. He also wasn't a dragon. 

Izuku darted through the air, going up or down at random times. 

He eventually reached the skyscraper, the tallest building in Musutafu, and flew straight up. Just as he brushed past the antenna, he tucked his wings to his sides and dove straight for the sidewalk, right against the glass walls of the building. 

Before he could hit the concrete, he spread his wings and flew up. Instead of going straight up, he opted for circling the building at breakneck speeds, emerging at the top, and heading for the forest again. 

After more moving like a bullet through the air, Izuku was flying over the top of the forest.

He glanced behind him and gave a toothless dragon grin as he realized Hawks was gone. 

Giving in to his urge, he let a small bit of emerald fire build up in his throat, and spit up a tiny ball in front of him. It swept out, and Izuku relished in the feel of heat as he passed through it.

He was smug for the rest of the day.


	4. Chapter 4

The night was quiet, and the moon hadn't made an appearance. 

A white and black shape sailed smoothly through the air. The only noise was the sound of wings slicing through air, and the occasional flap or two to keep themselves airborne in the dark night. 

Shigaraki's sharp green eyes scanned the city below him, nearly glowing in the darkness. The cold hovered around his scales, not quite touching him as he glided through the sky. He never got cold when he was flying. 

It was the same as every night. 

Absolutely _nothing._

Growling to himself, Shigaraki veered sharply upwards, flapping his wings hard as he ascended in the atmosphere. The white and black shape shot upwards, and at one point closed their eyes. 

After a second, Shigaraki broke through the cloud cover and snapped open his eyes as he relaxed, wings half unfurled and tail in front of him as he stayed suspended in the air for a moment, half on his back. 

He looked up at the sky, still unable to see the moon, even as gravity wrapped its claws around him and dragged him down. His wings hung loosely in the air on either side of him as he fell, swaying uselessly in the wind. The air felt good snapping across his face like this. 

After another second of suspended freefall, Shigaraki twisted in the air and opened his wings, shooting forward. Even now, after so long, he'd never be faster than his brother Ruffrunner. By the time they had finished learning to fly, Ruffrunner was already almost faster than their parents. No one had been able to figure out how he did it, but he did. 

Letting out a small breath of smoke, Shigaraki cast his gaze down to the sea of trees below him, passing by in a blur. He was gliding over the forest that bordered the city of Musutafu, which he would reach if he flew a bit further. Shigaraki was never able to go past where he resided; the Shizuoka Prefecture. He didn't get to fly every night, and he couldn't be out too long. 

With another huff, Shigaraki desperately paused in the air to hover, turning his head in every direction to try and see if he could find anything. _Still_ nothing. He was so tired of this stupid thing. 

It wouldn't be incredibly long before the sun rose, and Shigaraki was already pushing things. This was so _stupid_ sometimes. 

The white and black dragon sighed heavily, flapping his wings once more. 

A familiar fire built in his throat, and he spit out the ball of roiling blue-violet flames. They exploded in the air, and Shigaraki tucked his wings to his side as he dove straight into the flames. 

* * *

Shigaraki stepped back into the bar, grimacing at the dirtiness of the whole place. 

There was just-

_So much dirt._

The only decent part of it was the bar, which Kurogiri cleaned religiously. Everywhere else could be bleached five times and still need a good scrub. The floors were cracked in a couple of places, and the walls were stained. 

Just tear the whole thing down and rebuild it, jesus. 

Kurogiri wasn't behind the bar, which might be due to the fact it was currently five-thirty in the morning. Despite everything that man would project, he slept eight hours every night. 

Shigaraki didn't really need sleep. He only did the bare minimum to stay alive, and even then he was ninety percent sure Kurogiri would slip something into his drink when he thought he needed a nap. 

The pale haired man reached up to run a hand through his hair with a sigh. Twenty years and he hadn't found anything about his siblings. He hoped they were at least doing well. 

Shigaraki set his hand on one of the seats, and cursed as it turned to ash. This goddamn _quirk_. So fucking annoying. He couldn't even sit down now without destroying his goddamned seat. 

Grumbling angrily to himself, Shigaraki sat on the other seat and put his head in his arms, closing his eyes and breathing in the scent of the polished wood underneath his nose. 

He needed to start a legitimate investigation, but he had exactly zero idea of how to do that without someone finding out, or trying to obstruct whatever he was doing. And though he had a better memory than his brothers, he was not able to keep everything he learned tucked away in his mind all at once. It was simply too much information. 

Wasn't this just _fantastic._

After a couple more minutes of throwing a private, personal pity party, Shigaraki dragged himself to his feet and walked around the bar, opening a cabinet to grab a juice box. He didn't care for the taste of alcohol, personally. It was disgusting. 

He stabbed the juice box angrily, going around to sit back down and take a sip.

He didn't care what anyone said. Caprisuns were his _life._

* * *

Shigaraki had found that the stupid man who's face looked like a too-hot pizza had been tilted in the box didn't really care what he did in his free time. As long as he wasn't causing trouble or bothering him. 

And Shigaraki had a _lot_ of free time.

Now, the first option for this would be to fly around and search for his siblings. 

Flying around was illegal, and he was easily caught during the day time, he had found. 

The second option was to walk around and search for his siblings. 

The tilted box face wouldn't let him out of the city, so he had already exhausted his leads.

The third option was to ignore said tilted box face.

The misty man followed him around and always seemed to know when he was about to place a singular hair out of the city limits. That had been found out the hard way, after Shigaraki literally _placed a hair over city limits._

He needed to find his siblings, and he needed to find them fast. And being stuck with the same man who had caused their downfall was one of the least pleasant things he had ever done. 

Thanks to his quite amazing acting, -forget whatever his brothers would say- he had managed to convince tilted box face he had no idea who he was whatsoever. It wasn't very hard, since he always seemed to be occupied with something. 

But even with his position and his _amazing acting_ -seriously, fuck you Dart and Ruff-, he still wasn't in a position to track them down in effective ways. The most he had to go off of was the hope that the Hidden World hadn't been destroyed, and he couldn't even go check it out because someone would panic and try to find him. 

Shigaraki was still trying to figure out how he was being tracked, and how to remove it.

For now, his bet was that it was a device installed under his skin without his knowledge, and he needed some way to find where it was. He wanted to use a metal detector, but another problem was where to get one. Kurogiri wouldn't exactly let him use Amazon. 

Shigaraki groaned, flopping uselessly onto his bed. The tracker didn't give an exact position except for when he stepped out of the city limits. So he was stuck in this stupid prefecture until he figured out to disable it. 

Wonderful. 

Something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. 

Shigaraki lifted his head, blinking as his pupils thinned, focusing on whatever had caught his eye. His vibrant green gaze locked onto it with a vicious ferocity as he tilted his head to the side in curiosity, a small rumble in his throat.

No matter what had happened, he had never been able to get rid of his draconic noises and habits, even after twenty years as a human. 

If he were a dragon currently, his tail would be swishing behind him as he approached the corner of the desk across from his bed. It was a small room, without much inside of it. A bookshelf with shelves that doubled as his dresser, a desk, a bed, and a lamp. Very exciting. 

It was a small black box, made of shining metal. Shigaraki was careful as he reached out, grabbing the box and placing it in the palm of his hand. Crooning curiously, Shigaraki slowly reached out and flicked open the lid. He tensed, preparing for something to explode.

Nothing. 

Inside of the box was a small circle with a silver rim and white bottom, a tiny screen on the front of it. Under it was an innocent note written on a piece of black paper in white ink, the script messily elegant. 

_We await your return, child of the King._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah so mysterious~


	5. Chapter 5

"Is there really still nothing?" 

A man with scarred tissue held together by staples walked down the hall, boots clicking softly on the concrete floor. His trench coat swayed behind him as he walked, back straight and black hair shining in the low light. 

"Unfortunately. We've no leads yet." 

A woman followed him down the hall. She was tall with light blue hair half pulled back, bright yellow streaks dispersed throughout it at random intervals. She had thin black pupils, and the rest of her eyes were devoid of anything but bright yellow. She wore a tight black chest wrap and a blue and yellow patterned skirt over black leggings, with thick brown knee boots with black toes, a light layer of fur around the top. 

The scarred man sighed, turning down a corridor and opening a door, stepping into the room. People sat around the large grey table inside, quieting talking amongst themselves. They cut off and looked up as he walked inside, followed by the woman. 

The man walked to the front, taking the seat at the head of the table. The woman sat on his right side, lacing her fingers and resting her elbows on the table in front of her. As she relaxed, her pupils expanded. 

"We need a new plan." The scar tissue man announced, resting his hands on the table in front of him. 

"We've figured that out by now, Dart." The man at the end of the table sighs. 

He's big and burly, with dark red hair cropped close to his head. His pupils were the same as the woman's, but the yellow was darker, taking on more of an amber shade. He was wearing a black sleeveless tank top, arms bared. He had on tight black jeans and tightly laced black leather ankle boots, heavy red platforms on the bottom. 

"Yet we're still here, doing _nothing_!" The man snarled. 

"Calm down, Dart. We get it. We're all upset about this, but going for each other's throats isn't going to help us." Another woman soothed, holding out her hands.

She was short and wide, with soft brown hair tied back in a braided bun. Her gaze was a similar shade to the man's, but a little lighter. Her pupils were wide and calming, and she had a sweet voice. She was wearing a brown dress, cinched around the waist, with short boots similar to the previous woman's. 

"What we need is another approach. A new way to go about this." A new voice chimed in. 

It was another man, but he was tall and of medium stature, with black braided dreads hanging around his face and falling down his shoulders. He had yellow eyes just a shade off of the red-haired man's and was calmer than anyone else in the room. He had on an armor-like top made of a stiff material in trips, and long black, almost bulky sleeves with fingerless gloves. He had on thick black pants with a cape-like thing behind him lined in fur, hanging behind and around the sides of his legs and stopping an inch or two above his ankles. He had on ankle boots as well, with fur lining the top. His arms were crossed, and he watched everyone with a cool gaze. 

"We need to employ new tactics. We have been looking, yes, but not in the best way to go about it." The woman sitting next to Dart said smoothly, resting her chin on her steepled fingers. 

The man with red hair sighed. "Stormfly, what new tactics are there to use? I feel like we've exhausted our sources."

Stormfly shook her head. "We've exhausted one direction of doing this, Hookfang. We've been overly cautious, sticking in the shadows, hiding out. But in order to find Pounce and Ruffrunner, we'll need to be a little bit more public about it."

"More public?" The brown-haired woman echoed curiously. 

Stormfly nodded. "We need to present ourselves. Not to the general public, of course, but in the underground. The world lives in the sunlight of the surface, yes, but the underground form the roots that sustain them, that connects everything back to each other. If we want to find Ruffrunner and Pounce, we will expand our connections in the underground."

"While this is all lovely, how do you propose we do that, exactly?" The man with dreads asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"Easy, Cloudjumper. We make a splash. Start talking with the biggest targets, the ones with the most connections and the loosest lips. After a few drinks, a bit of information slipped. We can market ourselves as knowing information. A trader of sorts. Give to get."

Cloudjumper nodded, pupils dilating as they gleamed in the low light. "And we've gathered tons of information over the years of searching. We already have a starting basis for all of this." 

Stormfly grinned, leaning back in her seat. "This is how changes happen."

* * *

Dabi sighed as he walked out of the room, raising one hand to massage his temple. He had a bad headache. 

"Dart, are you okay?" A sweet voice came from behind him. 

Dabi turned, looking over at the woman in the brown dress as she came up beside him. He gave her a tired smile. "Yeah, Meatlug. Just tired."

Meatlug nodded. "I understand. Why don't you take a flight, clear your head? The night air works wonders for minds."

It was a good suggestion. And, now that he thought about it, he hadn't gone for a real flight of enjoyment in far too long. They were placed in the middle of the Aokigahara Forest, shielded from prying eyes, and he never flew. It was stupid, now that he thought about it. 

He nodded, rumbling _thanks_ to Meatlug as he walked down the hall with a purpose in mind. They were in the underground building situated at the edge of the forest, at the base of Mount Fuji. It came in handy a lot. 

It had taken decades, longer than Dabi had been in the world, but the others had worked hard and managed to gather all of the dragons in the forest. All across the globe, every dragon from the Hidden World had been reincarnated and placed at random and was brought back here. Except for four of them. 

His parents, and his brothers. 

Dabi knew deep down that the King and Queen of the Hidden World were gone. They had died valiantly in battle, protecting their nest and the dragons there until they ceased to draw breath. 

But he still found it so _stupid_ how they had managed to gather every dragon that had been in the Hidden World _except_ for Pounce and Ruffrunner. It was practically impossible. The odds really were against them, it seemed. 

Sighing, Dabi ascended a staircase and walked down another hall, coming to a heavy set of double doors and pushing them open. There was only heavy darkness in front of him, and a flash of fire covered his body momentarily as he shifted. 

From one second to the next, a dragon stood in the hall. Dabi shook himself out, adjusting his wings as he shot out a brief blast of blue-tinted rings, a brief noise echoing out. It sounded back to him, telling him exactly where to turn. 

They had built the base inside of the mountain inside of the caves interconnecting within it, which meant it was a pain to find it and get out of it. But echolocation was something Dabi had inherited from his father, so he was mostly fine in the darkness. 

After walking for a bit, occasionally sending out a few more noises to echo back at him, Dabi felt the cool mountain air brushing against the scales on his face, tickling the flaps on his ears. After reaching up a paw to rub one of them, Dabi took off at a run. 

Then there was light, a soft blue glow cast over the stone walls, painting them a gentle shade of grey that lightened the further one went on. After another push, Dabi had reached the very edge of the tunnel he had traveled up. 

Without a drop of hesitation, Dabi leaped off the edge of the tunnel and fell through the air. 

Tucking his wings into his sides, he dove straight down, curving his body along with the foot of the mountain as to not slam his face into it. He had done so once, and it had _hurt_. 

Just as the ground was starting to get a little too close to his face, and the grass at the foot of the mountain was ready to collect him, Dabi spread out his wings and soared up in a fast shot. He wasn't anywhere near as quick as Ruffrunner, but he would never call himself _slow._ That would be an insult. 

Dabi flapped his wings a few times, gaining altitude quickly before spreading his wings to catch the light updraft of the night. He glided above the sea of trees below him, closing his eyes for a moment to feel the slide of the wind off of his scales. 

The moon was at its halfway stage, bathing the trees in a soft glow and reflecting off of his ever so slightly sparkly scales. A trait from his mother, who was glittery and gorgeous. Pounce had gotten most of the glitter, while Ruffrunner had gotten the least. The only vaguely glittery parts about him were the undersides of his wings and his paws, along with the ends of his tail fins. 

Dart rumbled to no one in particular, sighing as he flicked his tail. He missed his siblings. Their absence was an ache in his chest; always present, though varying in the levels of pain and sorrow. 

After a while of just glancing at the sea of trees below him, watching as they passed by in a blur, he shook himself out and angled so he could fly up at a sharper angle. He liked to breach the clouds, even if there were only a few whisper ones present this night. It was calming, in a way. 

Letting his mouth loll open and the wind to blow at his toothless gums, Dabi launched up in the night, and finally shot through one of the cirrus clouds stretching across the sky. He halted in mid-air, gravity briefly releasing him, before snatching at his wings and pulling him back down. 

Twisting in the air, he spread his wings again and shot forward, heading for the edge of the mountain. The next thing to do was the one thing he had been dreading since he thought of it. 

He needed to find the Hidden World. 

It was a job he didn't want to do in the slightest, but with the keenest senses of the dragons, it fell to him. He would end up going alone since he was the fastest and would make it the quickest. 

He had been holding off for as long as possible because he wanted Pounce and Ruffrunner at his side, but even he knew that he was just about out of time. 

But for tonight, none of that mattered. 

Dabi warbled in a lonely tone as he glided over the mountain, moonlight glittering on the scales of his wings. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this fic isn't very popular, but im gonna keep at it for the three people that actively read :)
> 
> come yell at me in the comments!


	6. Chapter 6

"Are you sure about this?" Hisashi bit his lip as he straightened the collar of the shirt. His poor nerves were in frays.

Izuku gave him a smile. "Yep. You never know until you try, right?"

This didn't really soothe Hisashi, but he said and had an internal argument for a second. After another minute of looking over his son, he sighed and placed his hands on either of his shoulders. Closing his eyes for a minute, he raised his head and opened them. 

"You're going to be safe. You're not going to break any bones, and everything is going to go perfectly fine. Nothing is going to go wrong. You are going to go there, and you're going to come home unless you text me otherwise." He said in a stern voice.

Izuku reached up to salute. "Yes, sir!"

Hisashi rolled his eyes, pressing a finger to the center of his forehead and pushing him back. "Now leave my house young child."

Izuku grinned, running forward and opening the door. He jumped out, calmly turned around and shut it, then went bolting down the stairs. He was full of nerves, but they were good ones. Happy nerves. 

Today was the day of the Yuuei entrance exam. 

And he was pretty certain that he wasn't going to make it, but a guy could dream, right? Just like he told his dad, you simply never knew. He might make it in on a landslide, or something else along those lines. 

His dad had ordered him into a t-shirt and slacks, practically biting his head off to make sure he tucked in his shirt. Izuku knew he wasn't doing it to be mean. Hisashi was more on the nervous side since his wife had died, and he tried to show he cared as well as he possibly could. He'd never actually _hurt_ Izuku. 

Humming to himself, Izuku made his way down the sidewalk happily. He knew he had the smarts down since he took online classes a few grades ahead of him. His dad still forced him to school for the social factor. 

Izuku want to pat the man on the back and tell him that the social factor consisted of being bullied, but he never got the guts. He would never make him feel bad on purpose, so he was pretty much stuck. 

Izuku really wasn't quirkless. He just had a minor quirk called 'Dragon', which consisted of heightened senses, unnatural strength and speed, retractable claws and fangs, and his pupils being all funky. But Bakugou Katsuki had taken that as 'quirkless Deku'. No idea how that got messed up. 

But whatever. No one needed him anyway. And his parents were close with Hisashi, so he couldn't ruin that friendship just because he didn't like Bakugou. 

Biting his lip, Izuku fought back his nervous jitters and took a deep breath. He was fine. Everything was fine. 

He had passed by the Yuuei building so many times he didn't even need to think about heading there. His feet were automatically carrying him towards the building. He left his home early in the morning so that he was able to pass by here on his way to school. 

Izuku was nervous. So many things could go wrong here, and he wouldn't even be able to tell why or how they went wrong. This was all terrifying to him. He needed to be calmer, but he couldn't really muster the effort to put into such a task. 

Calm. Collected. 

General Studies bound. 

That wasn't helping him. Sighing, he shook his head and murmured a soft 'why' to himself. His feet were carrying him without much consideration, leading him on a fast path towards the school, towards the exam that would determine his future.

No pressure. 

Now he was in stage two of his anxiety: wishing he had just stayed the hell home.

But it was too late now! He had already gotten this far. Might as well go the full route and impress everyone with his score on the written portion of the exam. He really hoped that the physical portion wasn't something dumb like blowing up robots.

He was really, _really_ hoping it wasn't that, but he had a feeling that his hope was for just about nothing. Great. 

Sighing and shaking his head again, he forcefully pushed unhappy thoughts out of his head. Calm. Collected. He was the amazing, lightning-fast Ruffrunner, otherwise known as Midoriya Izuku, and some jitters were not going to kick him out of his happy mood. 

Instead of the jitters, he found a little pang of sadness. Great exchange. Really what he needs right now. 

_Calm!_

It was hopeless.

And now he was standing in front of the gates that led to his make-or-break, with the sun beating down on his back in a taunting way. Yes yes, fuck you too, sun. We all know how this is going to turn out. 

He was going to walk in, and emerge a new hero student! He was going to become majorly famous so one of his siblings or any of the other dragons would see him and be like 'oh man he look sus let's go find him'. He was going to find his family and be happy, dammit!

If only he could believe it.

Negativity was not what he needed!

Izuku steeled himself, squaring his shoulders and giving himself a little smile as he stepped forward, ready to start. He was going to ace this test and find Dart and Pounce, and he was going to do it all with a smile on his-!

Fuck.

* * *

Two minutes later, Izuku was walking into the large auditorium of Yuuei, wondering how he wasn't dead. The kindness of some people never failed to surprise him. Some people, he coughed aggressively though. 

After wandering about like an idiot for a second, he snuck into a row and sat in the chair that corresponded with his number. He swallowed hard and looked to the front of the room as people began to file inside of it, soft chattering spilling out over the room. 

It was a little soothing, the quiet talking. It let him know maybe everything was going to collapse on his head the second he stood up. And that was a nice feeling. But at this point, he was just thanking his lucky Kami that he hadn't seen Bakugou around. He would most likely be the final nail in his coffin. 

Swallowing, Izuku waited for the presentation to start. He had this down! He was ready for whatever they were going to throw at him, and he was going to fight it with a smile on his face because that was how he was getting out of this alive!

Izuku smiled determinedly to himself. His pep talks were starting to work. He was going to make it out alive with his fingers intact, and he was going to do with flamboyance! He reached down to pick up his brochure and flipped open the page.

He really, really had to stop doing these things to himself. 

"HEEEEEY!"

He wanted to be excited, he really did, but not crying was more of an urgent matter right now. He swiped an arm across his eyes, sucking in a harsh breath and preparing himself to face this cold world again. 

"CAN I GET A HEY?"

He had to admit, the silence almost had him laughing. But then he noticed a severe-looking blue-haired kid sitting a few rows in front of him, and decided that _maybe_ he shouldn't do that. The boy was casting glares about, and Izuku didn't want one of them to land on him. No thank you.

Poor Present Mic was left to deal with the deafening, painfully awkward silence that greeted his statement. He held out courage for a few seconds, then shook his head while opening up the brochure to explain. 

Written exams conducted in one room, no cheating or you're dead, don't bother other people, then go out and be discriminated against, yadda yadda yadda. Go fight robots because we hate everyone without a flashy, physical, destructive quirk.

Lame.

So now Izuku had grabbed the offered pen and was doodling on the back of his pamphlet. Without thinking too much about it, he started to sketch two dragons in different positions to each other flying about in the sky. Adding in sharper lines and smoother ones when appropriate, Izuku started sketching his parents. 

He and his poor siblings had been subjected to more than one of their romantic flights. Though, Izuku reasoned, that was where he got his everlasting love of thunderstorms and flying through them. And his father had taught him and his siblings his cool lightning trick that involved splitting scales. 

_Only he had been able to do it, he adds with a touch of pride._

Then a new voice was speaking, and Izuku jerked his head up and tuned back into what was going on. The blue-haired kid was speaking. Oh, to what honor did he owe this pleasure?

"Excuse me, but you talk about four robots, but there are only three listed on the pamphlet!"

Ah, so he was one of _those_ kids. The rich ones with sticks up their behinds and a high opinion of themselves. If things didn't conform to the rules they grew up with inside of their vast mansions, then those things were wrong.

He hated those kids. 

Sighing, Izuku rested his chin on his palm and went back to doodling his parents, adding in a few clouds and some shading. He was able to capture the exact look his father had when he was flying and the elegant and graceful way his mother curved her wings when she was in the sky. 

Izuku personally thought that elegance was one of the traits all Light Furies were born with. He knew one of his age, who he had really liked, and his name was Kobyko. One of the oddest names he had ever heard, but Izuku found that it quite suited him. He was always sweet to Izuku, even when Dart and Pounce were being particularly annoying and they got into a fight in front of him. 

Just another thing for him to miss, he supposed. 

His attention was recaptured when he realized someone was speaking to him.

Looking up again, Izuku bit his tongue sharply to bite back his questioning rumble. He had spent years trying to break himself of those habits, and it was still hard. Even if he fought the croon, he couldn't hesitate tilting his head to the side. He was sure his pupils widened too in his curiosity. 

"You should be paying attention! It's rude to be drawing when someone is telling you information!" 

Izuku's gaze flattened and his pupils thinned as he simply looked at the boy. Then, in annoyance, he tipped his head back down and continued to draw. He fought a smirk as the boy spluttered incredulously at him. 

Served him right.

But he still kept an ear out, listening to Present Mic tell the kid to quiet down. Izuku hoped that if he got into the school, that this kid wasn't in his class. He was beginning to make him dislike the color blue and the rectangle. 

Finally, after even more talking, they were released out to take the written portion of the exam and then move to their assigned zones. Izuku swallowed hard, once again preparing himself for his utter failure. 

* * *

Scorch marks.

He left the exam with goddamn scorch marks. 

Yuuei was not impressing him so far. Even if he did get in, this was a tally against their reputation. 

Although, Izuku reasoned, he was technically the one to give himself the scorch marks. He didn't _need_ to slice open the robot and break it apart, but he did anyway. He didn't need to crawl inside and shoot a small spurt of flame at the electrical cords after tearing off the rubber. But he did.

And now here he was, walking off of the campus with scorch marks. 

The girl had been grateful enough. Izuku had managed to grab a pathetic twenty points, but bite him! He didn't go around using his quirk to battle robots every day in order to train for this sort of thing!

Huffing in annoyance, Izuku carefully made his way back to his home.

And if he cried when his letter came, nobody but Hisashi needed to know that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i like spend hours fantasizing about this fic but i never write anything down why am i like this


	7. Chapter 7

The tracker had been in the space right between his ribs, nestled just underneath his skin. 

Disturbing. 

After blood, pain, and the dirtying of yet another knife, Shigaraki managed to remove the tracker and shudder at its bloody state. He had then stitched up his tummy again, placed a bandage over it, and gone to run the tracker under some water.

The tracker itself was small; barely larger than the weird light pink crescent thing on the ends of his nails, and in a crescent shape as well. It glowed a bright red periodically, and Shgiaraki rinsed it off to remove the blood.

Now that he had gotten the tracker away, he had a few more problems to worry about. Namely the fact of making the others believe he hadn't gotten it out. That would be particularly fun to explain, after all. 

Huffing to himself, Shigaraki sat on his bed and grabbed the box, holding up the note. _We await your return, child of the King._ What the hell did that even mean? It was pretty damn vague. 

But it filled him with a spark of hope because maybe he wasn't so alone in the world. Maybe the others were around, hell, maybe the Hidden World still existed. Maybe Ruffrunner and Dart had already found each other and were searching for him just as he was searching for them. 

But that didn't quite click.

Honestly, Dart and Ruff were tactless idiots who would have probably just blasted their way into the bar and snatched him up. They didn't have the knowledge to be able to plant something like this. They were his brothers, and he loved them and all, but they really were a pair of clueless dorks. 

Humming a quiet tune to himself, Shigaraki decided he might as well _try_ and sleep. Maybe when he woke up he would suddenly have the answer to everything going on at the moment. Probably not, but he could hope, couldn't he?

* * *

Shigaraki had spent his day sitting in his room, sitting at the wall while his thoughts drifted in random directions. He felt like a windows screensaver, and every time the icon hit a corner he would have one clear thought before it vanished.

In other words, a productive day. 

At some point, Kurogiri had filtered in and set a caprisun next to him. Shigaraki wasn't embarrassed to say that he already drank it. It was better than leaving it there and just wasting it. He was being productive, dammit. 

Maybe.

Turning over, Shigaraki buried his face in his pillow and let out a low rumble. Maybe he should try to go for another flight and leave that stupid tracker there, once Kurogiri had gone to bed. 

Yeah, that sounded like a good plan. And without it, he would be able to fly out of the city for the first time in... well... kinda forever. He would have a bit more freedom to work with, as long as he stayed with the eight-hour constraints. 

So, another hour or two of staring at the wall. Wonderful.

* * *

God, two hours had never taken so long. 

Kurogiri finally, mercifully said he was going to bed and vanished. Shigaraki wasn't very worried about being caught. He would leave the tracker safely on his bed and everything would be fine. 

After waiting another twenty minutes, Shigaraki crept off of his bed and walked to the door, silently drawing it open. If Kurogiri was still up, he could lie and say he was grabbing another caprisun, after all. 

But one glance around told him he was safe for the moment. 

Biting his tongue to stop a croak of victory, Shigaraki crept through the bar, thanking the gods for concrete floors, and opened the door. He had found just the right trick to open the door without making a sound, but in his haste and excitement, he almost forgot how.

And then there was the slightest creak from the frame.

Shigaraki's heart fell to his feet as he froze, not daring to breathe as he listened out for any movement. There was silence, and he couldn't pick up anything coming from inside of the bar. 

After another minute of listening, he turned and slipped out of the door and closed it behind him. Then he allowed himself to breathe, sucking in a sharp breath as he held out a hand to brace himself against the wall. 

Then he looked up, pupils sharpening as he ducked into the alleyway and headed for the rusted ladder at the dead end. Jumping up and hooking his fingers around the edge of the ladder, he pulled himself up without much effort and climbed the ladder swiftly. 

The roof was bathed in gentle moonlight, and there were a few heavy clouds in the sky. Practically vibrating with excitement, Shigaraki took a deep breath to try and convince himself to stop trying to self combust. 

He was- oh god, he really was about to fly out of city limits. He was about to get the smallest taste of freedom since he was taken by the hot-pizza-box-tilted-face man. He was getting to see something new besides this trashy city. 

He was getting to go out on his own.

Shigaraki shifted in a flash of flames, opening his wings and bringing them back down violently. He shot up in the air, flapping hard to gain altitude and soar up in the atmosphere. The wind blew at him, tugging at his wings and tail and trying to force him back down.

Not tonight.

Shigaraki took off through the night, heading straight up before diving back down and lifting up, spreading out his wings to catch an updraft and glide forward. He had to say, though, he was a little jealous of his siblings. They had more black on their scales than he did, so they were able to glide more stealthily in the night. He had gotten more of his mother's pigmentation. 

He wondered about his father, though, as he tended to do. He was the last Night Fury, and now that he was gone... Night Furies were extinct. His brothers and he were the closest things to them. There had never been anymore, even in the Hidden World. 

He remembered the way his father's face had fallen when it had finally been confirmed, the way his wings and tail drooped and he looked at the ground. His mother had been quick to comfort him, nuzzling the side of his face and crooning soft _loves_ to him. 

Shigaraki sighed as he soared through the air, flapping his wings again to get another burst of speed. He was nearing the edge of the city limits, about to make his way to the city of Musutafu.

But now his worries were starting to get the best of him. What if Kurogiri tried to open his door and found him gone but his tracker there? What if something went wrong, and he wasn't there to do damage control?

His heart was rising his throat, starting to choke up his breathing as he recognized the place where the cities changed. 

It was drawing closer, taunting him. Shigaraki wanted to cross it, to fly over it and be free. But he was scared. There were too many things that could go wrong here. Musutafu was unknown. What if someone caught him?

Shigaraki suddenly jerked to a stop, wings flailing as he flapped them to say in place in the air, tail swinging below him. He stared at the line, stared at it only a few feet in front of him. What if that wasn't the only tracker?

It was his freedom; his saving grace. He could cross that line and fly through Musutafu, and he might even find one of his siblings. He might find someone there, another dragon, anyone. 

But he could also draw attention to them. If that wasn't the only tracker on him, someone might be able to find where he was and they might be able to track down whoever he might meet. He could doom anyone he met if he flew past that line.

His freedom lay there.

But so did another set of chains, hiding in the shadows. 

He could escape this place, he could fly and fly until his wings were stiff and he needed to come back before the sun arose. He could find somewhere new to explore; he could land on top of the tall skyscraper he saw in the distance. He could search around, and he could find anything.

He could be saved.

_He could be doomed._

With a heavy swallow and a long stare at the line, Shigaraki turned around and flew in the opposite direction. 


	8. Chapter 8

Dart flapped his wings, relishing in the feel of the wind underneath his wings, lifting him up in the air. The breeze was calmer the higher he flew, and more violent the further he dared to dip down. 

The clouds were light and fluffy, pale white, and obscuring a good portion of the sky. It was warm, made cooler from where he was, the sun shining brightly on his scales and making sure he didn't freeze in the process of flying. 

The open ocean stretched out in every direction around him, glimmering and shining with the reflection of the light. It was an elegant blue, dotted with white as it reflected the sky above it. 

The waves were rather calm, considering it was the middle of the ocean. The wind was stronger above them, trying to tug in a multitude of directions when he flew low. But he found comfort in it, a sort of comfort in the emptiness around him. 

He wasn't very tired from flying all day, mostly because he hadn't been doing much work. He spread his wings and the wind carried him in the direction he needed to go. If he wanted, he could probably make it straight through the night without a rest. 

However, he could already hear Meatlug's voice from across the ocean. 

_You need to rest. Pushing yourself won't help anyone._

And who was he to deny the strange, hallucinated voices appearing in his head while he flew across the ocean without a real route in mind? No one, that was who. So he would rest at the next island he came across. The path was charted so that he would come across them and be able to rest. 

He was finding the Hidden World.

* * *

Dart stretched with a long yawn, though he was careful not to disturb his staples or brush too roughly across the sensitive, burnt flesh covering half of his body. That wouldn't make for a particularly great morning. 

After dressing in his usual button-up, jeans, boots, and coat, he ran a hand through his black spikes and gave up on them. He had just put in fresh dye, so he wouldn't need to worry about that for a while. 

He walked out of his room, heading down the dark hallway. A door opened as he walked and a Gronkle peeked her head out. Fishmeat, Meatlug's daughter, smiled as she caught sight of him and waved. He waved back with a nod. 

He normally took this opportunity to go visit a different group of dragons. Yesterday, he found the Speed Stingers and held a conversation with the pack leader, Redfang. They were pleasant enough, but it was clear they were itching with the urge to go hunt. Their last one had been a month ago. They needed to be able to track something, to hunt something down like they did in the Hidden World to be satisfied. At some points, they needed it to stay sane. 

But they couldn't do it so often around, to prevent overhunting and suspicion. 

Today, he decided he would journey into the heart of the mountain and see how the others were faring. The walk itself was rather long. _If_ one decided to walk. Dart didn't have any need to do such a thing, though, so the journey wouldn't take very long. 

Instead of going through all of the troubles of navigating the corridors, he decided to head to the Cascade. He would make it to where he needed to go from there without much trouble. It was a thousand times easier than trying not to get lost in the thousands of hallways in the mountain and pretending to all pedestrians that he knew where he was going.

As he turned a corner and walked down a set of stairs, another pair of footsteps joined his. Dart knew without looking who had appeared. He didn't offer a greeting or any sign he had recognized him. But neither did his new companion. 

"Where are you heading to?" Atoli asked after a second.

"You'll see," Dart replied easily. 

Atoli huffed, but a small smile was curving his lips. His long, straight black hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, fading to a bright red at the ends. His bright yellow eyes stared curiously at Dart, pupils expanded. He was dressed in black and red robes, hands clasped behind his back. Black gloves running from around his wrist stopped just below his elbow, where black and red-accented robes started, tucked into the ends of the gloves. Black under robes shone in the lowlight, red hanging down around his ankles. His black boots clicked softly on the floor. He had been found in China.

Another minute of silence passed. "You gonna tell me now?"

Dart rolled his eyes and didn't respond.

"I could just like, venom you into telling me. Drug you into giving me the info."

Atoli had been one of Grimmel's Deathgrippers and was completely unafraid to use his poison to drug unsuspecting dragons into doing whatever he wanted. Few of the Deathgrippers that had been stuck with the horrible man were brave enough to try. Atoli had no such qualms.

Dart took another turn and stepped another set of stairs, walking down a hall. He could hear the Cascade faintly in the distance. He wasn't very far now, and it would only take a minute or so to get there. 

" _Please tell meeeeee_ ," Atoli whined. 

"The Cascade." Dart answered after a minute, drawing closer to his destination every second. 

"But where in the Cascade?" 

No answer. Atoli groaned, but Dart wasn't paying any more attention to the drama queen. Gods, he was almost as bad as Ruffrunner. And Ruff sometimes made him want to rip out his scales individually. 

Just as he saw Atoli opening his mouth again, most likely to whine at him about even more about his destination, he took off in a run. Atoli blinked in surprise, frozen in place for a moment. Then his brain caught up and he was shouting an angry _hey!_ while taking off after him. 

Dart ran forward, down the hall until he saw the gentle lightening of the stone. The noise of heavy water falling became heavier until the hall ended and he emerged inside of the cascade.

It was one of the largest caverns in the entire mountain, with an absolutely _giant_ waterfall falling from the side and spraying out. It wasn't nearly as big as the entrance to the Hidden World, but it wasn't anything to sneeze at. 

And Dart ran out onto the slippery stone and leaped straight off the ledge, hanging suspended in the air for a moment. He hovered over the straight drop, pitch-black from his current vantage point. 

And, just as he started to fall, a bright flame covered his body and he was shifting. A second later, a black and white dragon was plunging down in a dangerous nose-dive, wings tucked tight into his sides. 

He heard the noises of Atoli following him, but he was faster by a long shot than his friend. He fell for another second before suddenly moving forward with a flap of his wings, darting straight into another large hall, big enough for him to spread his wings completely and then still have about ten feet of space on either side of him. 

The momentum from his fall guided him straight forward, and he didn't even need to flap his wings as he shot through the cavern. It was brightening up again, and shaking himself out briefly, he emerged into the largest cavern in the mountain. 

A huge expanse of glowing blue water appeared below him, shining on his scales. It wasn't like the Hidden World, where the patterns on his scales would appear, but it was still a magical feeling. 

Sea Shockers drifted underneath him, along with thousands of fish. There was an underground water system running throughout the mountain, even under the Aokigahara Forest, which helped provide for their water dragons. 

Dabi let out a happy rumble as he glided forward, planning to go check on the Fathomfins. 

That was until a cry echoed throughout the entire caverns and bounced off the walls, hitting him full force. It was loud enough to halt Dart mid-air, almost falling as he stopped so suddenly. 

It was a cry of pain. 

Dart whirled around, trying to figure out the source of the noise. Shaking his head, he used his head to recognize the call. It was... it was Lavender, one of the Purple Deaths. Last he had checked on her, she was watching over her three eggs. 

_Something had gone wrong._

Dart flapped his wings harshly and dove into the water, heading for the corner and swimming into a cramped path. It was just wide enough for him to squeeze into, and he swam fast through the winding tunnel. 

When he emerged out, he flapped to the surface and took in a deep breath, launching out and flying hard to reach where Lavender should have been. After a minute, he had emerged into another large cavern. Lavender was on the shore, in her human form, hunched over with her long purple hair falling around her to obscure the view of her face. 

Dart launched over, landing on the shore and transforming. He ran to her side, dropping down and placing an arm around her. "Lavender, what happened?"

She was shaking, her shoulders heaving, taking in great breaths. "My eggs-"

She cut off with another gasp, and Dart saw the dark tears dripping onto the sand. He looked up, and his pupils dilated as his breath caught. The three eggs were giant, much bigger than him. 

And they were destroyed, dead bodies of dragonets half out of them. Blood and purple mucus dripped from the broken shells, dripping down and pooling on the sand around them. He understood very quickly. 

They couldn't hatch because there weren't the right conditions. Purple Deaths needed to hatch in extremely warm, high-pressure areas deep in the water. Conditions specifically met by the Hidden World. 

Lavender let out a long, echoing scream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> listen-  
> i know this sucks  
> but i really wrote this out and i was like i hate this but i do not have the will to rewrite  
> i swear i love you all the next chapter will not be this bad and it will be up vaguely soon and well... it will include a new character... *cough cough a fury cough cough*


End file.
